Vented Brakes

[trackerjack]

Vented brakes were a bit flash when our cars were made but BL excelled themselves with how bad they could make the brakes and at least one major manufacturer did not want to help them because they were so poor.


Well hello dolo Mites, this is me and what follows is how I can help your Sprint or Dolomite.
I have already helped 65 plus cars to stop better in the last ten years or so.
You can do it all yourself or I will do it.
You can still use standard wheels as these will just fit.

This is what you start with.

Its okay and will stop the car but not that well and not up to modern standards.
This is what we can end with using Golf GTI vented discs and Sierra 1.6 to 2litre vented compatible calipers which are very popular still, because so many kit cars still use them.


This is an upright with my special brackets added so that a Ford caliper can be used.



Different Ford pads. Upper picture shows Sierra/XR2/XR3I etc type There are two types that can be used and the lower pad is used on 1.2 KA,s (or some of them!) and these calipers are well up to stopping the Dolomite but are slightly smaller piston than the other pads caliper which is found on many Fords but mostly Sierra (not XR series as these are too large and will not fit)


To clamp the new discs to a standard Triumph hub I cut the old disc so.


This is with it fitted and clamping the new disc.The new disc needs a slight boring out and the holes redrilled.

The other side.


Sometimes a little fettling is needed to stop the disc rubbing as Triumph parts come in all sizes and no two are the same as manufacturing tolerances were, ahem a lot sloppy at BL.


I do not run with the disc covers in place (most modern cars do not have them either) but it is important to fit these (see pic) as the lower ball joint gets hot otherwise.


Once you have these you will need to make slight changes to the hose arrangement, I have a short length of copper pipe going to the caliper and use standard hoses but many like to go to somwhere like Rally Design who will make a male metric (Ford) to a female 3/8 UNF (triumph) pipe to order. Or you could use 2 flexibles and a very short UNF/Metric to connect the two. The list of how you connect goes on and on but one thing is certain, make damn sure no pipe or part fouls the moving suspension.
Phew I think thats all apart from check this thread outhttp://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8662&st=0&sk=t&sd=a to see what those that use them have written.
There is also a lot more info here too.

[trackerjack]

Hi I get no feedback these days on old sets of these brakes and I find myself wondering how people are who fitted them years ago are getting on? Are your discs wearing well? Pads what are your favourites (I ended up with ordinary local spares shop).
Did you fit an aftermarket hose, or my copper one?

[killysprint]

I still think the uprated brakes are the best mod I've fitted to my car (the original discs and calipers taken off were (are) in as new condition - and so operationally were in good order)

To be honest the upgrade is probably for me, more of a confidence booster, than an actual need though!

When I had my first sprints in the late 80's the pads would be regularly smoking after spirited drives - things you do when you're young and daft......

Still have the std trackerjack kit fitted - with the copper pipe using braided hoses. I've done around 2500 miles since fitting without any problems - only thing that I would (should) change is the green stuff pads as they dust really badly, meaning I need to wash the wheels regularly.....discs are still in good nick.

Overall a happy camper

[lazeruspete]

i have the conversion on mine but as yet havent driven it! once i drive it i'll give them some punishment and get back to you


also im not entirely sure on the set up side of things(pads and piping) so when we take the front wheels off i'll also get back to you

[soe8m]

This year i was a rally navigator of Mike Bishop (theoriginalmikeyB) and sitting next to him, telling alway's too late when to turn he had to brake very hard very often. I did ask which brakes he had on his Sprint and that was a TJ conversion. He did use the Ferodo competetion pads and said it was a fine conversion with no fading at all. Overwhelmed by this braking i decided to buy a set also. TJ did made a Brembo disc set for me and i did choose some bigger calipers than he used. Bigger pistons with calipers that used bigger pads and covered the whole dics width. These calipers do fit the sliders TJ uses. Normally these calipers are too big because of the fluid displacement but i use a bigger brake master. I do not have any experience because the engine (and the rest) is not ready yet but all looks ok.

Never had any moment of fear sitting next to Mike.

Jeroen

[trackerjack]

Cheers lads, Mike Bishop wrote an article in CT club mag (CT Torque) this month and said my brakes were the single best mod he had done to the car.
Wow I am pleased, who would have thought that 12 years ago so many Dolomites would be using a bodge err fine modification that I had cobbled up.
Credit for the VW disc has to go to a man that cannot be mentioned on here though despite being an arse BK had a use.

[geeksteve]

I'm still saving up for my kit, nearly got one off eBay a few weeks ago but the cost of moving house caught up with me

S

[Carledo]

Hi, I've bought a very basic kit, just discs, brackets and spacers from covcourier and I have a small question, do I need longer bolts to secure the discs to the hubs now that they have to pass through the new discs as well? And if I do, do you have any or can you make any suggestions as to length and strength and where to get them?

Thanks, Steve

[trackerjack]

Hi Steve
The standard 3/8 UNC bolts are plenty long enough as the disc is thin (which is why you have to sandwich it using an old disc or similar)
If for some reason you cannot use an old disc cut up I have made alloy rings tapped 3/8 UNC to do the same job.

The bolts to hold the caliper are longer though and are 10 mm x 1.5 x 40 long.

Hope this helps.

[Carledo]

Hi Steve
The standard 3/8 UNC bolts are plenty long enough as the disc is thin (which is why you have to sandwich it using an old disc or similar)
If for some reason you cannot use an old disc cut up I have made alloy rings tapped 3/8 UNC to do the same job.

The bolts to hold the caliper are longer though and are 10 mm x 1.5 x 40 long.

Hope this helps.

Thats fine, I have a perfect pair of donor discs here, they're wafer thin and badly scored so no use whatever otherwise!

Thanks, Steve

[trackerjack]

Hi Steve
The standard 3/8 UNC bolts are plenty long enough as the disc is thin (which is why you have to sandwich it using an old disc or similar)
If for some reason you cannot use an old disc cut up I have made alloy rings tapped 3/8 UNC to do the same job.

The bolts to hold the caliper are longer though and are 10 mm x 1.5 x 40 long.

Hope this helps.

Thats fine, I have a perfect pair of donor discs here, they're wafer thin and badly scored so no use whatever otherwise!

Thanks, Steve

Recycling parts

[soe8m]

People scrap their rusty dolomites and sell the brakes. You should have put serial numbers in it to find a matching period set for your dolomite.

Jeroen

[triplesfanatic]

Trackerjack,

Saw video of you on youtube racing RS2000 - impressive. If we want to do Trackerjack conversion what specialist (non commercial) parts do we need? I did miniFins conversion to put Fiat Uno discs with Fiesta MK2 callipers on mini with 10" wheels a few years back (much cheaper & better than Cooper S) - it was a nightmare to do. Is it just the calliper mounts? If so, do you have them for sale?

Dave

[trackerjack]

Trackerjack,

Saw video of you on youtube racing RS2000 - impressive. If we want to do Trackerjack conversion what specialist (non commercial) parts do we need? I did miniFins conversion to put Fiat Uno discs with Fiesta MK2 callipers on mini with 10" wheels a few years back (much cheaper & better than Cooper S) - it was a nightmare to do. Is it just the calliper mounts? If so, do you have them for sale?

Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for the comments (that RS2000 was just a little well driven for me yto keep up).
Do i assume that you want to upgrade a Dolomite?

[triplesfanatic]

Hi Trackerjack,

I am considering uprating the front brakes on my 1980 Sprint at some stage but my mate is building an RV8 Dolly and this will hopefully get the Trackerjack conversion. As I understand it there are a couple of bits of fabrication that are required as well as your brackets. One involves turning down the old disc to work as a clamp washer and the other modifying the new disc. Would it not be possible to have a batch of clamp washers made up rather than have to turn down the old discs? Maybe you or someone has already done this. What parts specialist are available for the Trackerjack conversion and where can I get hold of them? I'm sure I can get source Sierra/Ka callipers and the right vented discs.

Dave